University of Kentucky UKnowledge Near East History History 10-31-1996 The Kurdish Nationalist Movement in the 1990s: Its Impact on Turkey and the Middle East Robert Olson University of Kentucky, [email protected] Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Olson, Robert, "The Kurdish Nationalist Movement in the 1990s: Its Impact on Turkey and the Middle East" (1996). Near East History. 1. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_near_east_history/1 The Kurdish Nationalist Movement in the 1990s THE KURDISH NATIONALIST MOVEMENT IN THE 1990s ITS IMPACT ON TURKEY AND THE MIDDLE EAST Robert Olson Editor THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY Copyright © 1996 by The University Press of Kentucky Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine College, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Club, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky 663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008 00 99 98 5 4 3 2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Kurdish.nationalist movement in the 1990s : its impact on Turkey and the Middle East / Robert Olson, editor, p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-8131-1999-5 (cloth : alk. paper).—ISBN 0-8131-0896-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Turkey—Politics and government—1980- 2. Kurds—Turkey— Politics and government. 3. Partiya Karkere Kurdistan. 4. Turkey— Foreign relations-—1980- 5. Nationalism—Turkey. I. Olson, Robert W. DR603.K87 1996 956.103—dc20 96-21501 CONTENTS Acknowledgments vii Note on Spelling and Names viii English Translations of Political Parties and Organizations in Turkey ix Maps x, xi Introduction 1 Parti The Development of the Kurdish Nationalist Movement in Turkey since the 1980s 1 The Development of the Kurdish Nationalism Movement in Turkey since the 1980s 9 Giilistan Giirbey 2 Turkey's Kurdish Problem In The 1990s: Recent Trends 38 Aram Nigogosian 3 Kurdish Infighting: The PKK-KDP Conflict 50 Michael Gunter Part II The Kurdish Nationalist Movement and Its Impact on Turkey's Foreign Policy 4 Under the Gun: Turkish Foreign Policy and the Kurdish Question 65 Henri Barkey 5 The Kurdish Question and Turkey's Foreign Policy Toward Syria, Iran, Russia and Iraq since the Gulf War 84 Robert Olson 6 More Apparent than Real? The Impact of the Kurdish Issue on Euro-Turkish Relations 114 Philip Robins Part III The Kurdish Nationalist Movement and Its Impact on Turkey's Domestic Politics and Human Rights Policies 7 Political Crisis and the Kurdish Issue in Turkey 135 Hamit Bozarslan 8 The New Democracy Movement in Turkey: A Response to Liberal Capitalism and Kurdish Ethnonationalism 154 Robert Olson and Yiicel Bozdaghoglu 9 Nationalism and the Rule of Law in Turkey: The Elimination of Kurdish Representation During the 1990s 173 Mark Muller List of Contributors 200 Index 202 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS An edited book is only as good as all of its contributors. As editor of this book, I was fortunate to have a constellation of internationally recognized scholars who believed in the project and agreed to write chapters, for which I am deeply ap- preciative. They have made an exciting book that illustrates for the first time the most pressing problem in the Middle East in all of its significance. I also want to acknowledge our computers, which have, through electronic mail, made such in- ternationally collaborative projects possible and easier. The University Press of Kentucky receives accolades for agreeing to publish this book in a handsome format. The University Press staff responded with alacrity and grace to all of the queries and hurried demands of an anxious author. My friend and colleague, Art Wrobel, agreed to my pleas that he proofread chapters on short notice, and he did so without too much complaint. Gyula Powers, another friend, who also happens to be one of the world's best cartographers, insisted that the book have "two good handmade maps." Lynn Hiler did much to facilitate the word pro- cessing as well as to help me with the necessary commands to do mine. Without her good humor and help, I would not have been able to meet press deadlines. I am most grateful to Aram Nigogosian, who first brought up the idea of publishing an edited book on this subject and who shared his ideas throughout the collection and editing process. Lastly, I am grateful to the faculty and administra- tion of the University of Kentucky, who awarded me with a University Research Professorship for 1995-96 that relieved me of teaching duties and permitted me to undertake the task of editing this work. NOTE ON SPELLING AND NAMES In editing this volume, I have followed, for the most part, modern Turkish spelling, as it renders correctly the pronunciation of Turkish and Kurdish names, thus making the proper names and place names more understandable not only to the Turkish speaker but also to the English speaker and reader. In modern Turkish, the letters 6 and u are similar to the German letters. The letter i is pronounced as it is in sit in English. There is also an undotted i in Turkish, which sounds like the u in stadium. The letters f and s are similar to the ch in church and the sh in should. The c is pronounced like they in John. Turkish also has a letter g, which has the effect of lengthening the preceding vowel and sometimes obviates the need to pronounce the following consonants, as in aga (large landowner). The one exception to this scheme is in chapter 3, which deals with Iraqi Kurdistan where Kurdish names and places have an Arabic transliteration. ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES AND ORGANIZATIONS IN TURKEY Translations English Turkish Committee of Union and Progress CUP ITC Democracy Party DP DEP Democratic Party DP DP Democratic Left Party DLP DSP Federation of Revolutionary Youth in Turkey FRYT DEV-GENC Justice Party JP AP Kurdistan Workers' Party KWP PKK Motherland Party MP ANAP Nationalist Action Party NAP MHP National Liberation Front of Kurdistan NLFK ERNK National Salvation Party NSP MSP New Democratic Movement NDM YDH New Democratic Party NDP YDP New Party NP YP Party of New Turkey PNT YTP Peoples Democracy Party PDP HADEP Peoples Labor Party PLP HEP Peoples Liberation Army of Kurdistan PLAK ARGK Republican Peoples' Party RPP CHP Social Democratic Party SDP SHP Social Democratic Populist Party SDPP SHP Socialist Party of Turkey-Kurdistan SPK-T TKSP Kurdistan Socialist Party KSP KSP True Path Party TPP DYP Turkish Workers' Party TWP TIP Welfare Party WP RP Union Party of Turkey UPT TBP BULGARIA Kurdish Population Mediterranean Sea in Central and Eastern Turkey \ Fama Xf CYPRUS „ Provincial boundaries Provincial Capital IRAQ Areas where the majority of the population is Kurdish 100200 Miles / 100 200 300 Kilometers \ RUSSIA Black Sea GEORGIA *\ ^Tbilisi y^^. r r< REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN >• ,.«* \.--1.i- ;•* Qum' Kurdish Population in the Middle East ./-~ Provincial boundaries • Provincial Capital IRAO^). _ * ( Areas where the majority V. of the population is Kurdish J -""T iX^O 0 100 200 Miles Bag 0 100 200 300 Kilometers ^J^TJ:. y^?1'.' J .^.- INTRODUCTION Thili:s is the first book of which I am aware, in any language, to deal exclu- sively with the impact of the Kurdish nationalist movement on Turkey and the Middle East during the 1990s. As the contributors to this volume make clear, this is a period when the Kurdish nationalist movement has mounted its biggest chal- lenge to the Turkish state in the twentieth century. In the aftermath of the Gulf war, the challenge escalated to new dimensions. Other than Michael Gunter's The Kurds in Turkey: A Political Dilemma (1990), no full-length scholarly monographs or books have been devoted exclusively to the Kurdish nationalist movement in Turkey during the 1990s. David McDowall, in his recent A History of the Kurds (1996), devotes two chapters to the Kurds in Turkey, but they are embedded in the larger history. The volume presented here is the first treatment to attempt to cover comprehensively the domestic, foreign, economic, political and judicial challenges facing Turkey from the growth and spread of the Kurdish nationalist movement. The Gulf war in 1991 gave substantial impetus to the Kurdish nationalist move- ment throughout the Middle East, as the contributors make clear. But this volume focuses on Turkey. Because of its pro-West orientation since it joined NATO in 1952 and its geopolitic and geostrategic alliance with the West since then, less at- tention has been paid in the West, especially in the United States, to the history and politics of Turkey. It seems that government and academic circles think it best not to draw attention to some of Turkey's unpleasant politics and policies. Chief among these are Turkey's policies to control, constrain and eliminate the Kurdish nationalist movement wherever it rears its head. Turkey has pursued this policy since the Sheikh Said rebellion in 1925. If the Kurdish nationalist movement was the sore thumb of the Turkish re- public after its creation in 1923, it became the Achilles heel of the Turkish state in the 1980s and 1990s. Led by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, known under its Kurdish acronym, PKK, the Kurdish nationalist movement challenges the very structure of the state and its legitimizing Kemalist ideology.